Not applicable.
Not applicable.
The present invention relates to automated dispensing equipment in general, and to devices for loading automated pill dispensers in particular.
Tremendous strides in pharmacology have developed treatments for numerous human ailments which were once debilitating or fatal, but which are now readily controllable with careful medication. The modem medical practitioner has available a vast pharmacopeia for treatment of a wide range of physical and mental afflictions. Technological advancements in the development and production of pharmaceuticals has been accompanied by mechanical and electrical advancements in the development of automated machinery such that, at the present time, automated dispensers of pill form medicaments are widely used to collect in convenient labeled packets just those pills which are to be consumed by a particular patient at a particular time.
In hospitals, nursing homes, extended care facilities, and other institutions caring for multiple patients, automated pill dispensers can contribute to the expeditious, sanitary, and accurate distribution of necessary medications. In one known automated pill dispenser, several hundred 10-inch tall canisters within the apparatus are loaded with the most common medications required by the patients served by the dispenser. Under computer control, the dispenser collects just those pills required for a particular patient and routes them into a labeled packet. However, even with several hundred medications available on demand, there are always specialized patient needs requiring medications not loaded in one of the large canisters of the dispenser. To attend to the need for specialized medications, the automated pill dispensers are outfitted with a retractable carousel having 20 to 60 cavities into which small quantities of pills may be loaded. This specialty carousel is mounted on slides which permit it to be extracted from the process path of the dispenser where each numbered carousel compartment may be loaded by hand with a particular medication whose identity is keyed into the controlling computer. The drawbacks of this system are readily apparent: the expensive automated dispenser must be halted while the carousel is retracted and loaded, reducing the productivity of the machine, and consuming additional labor; moreover, individual loading of carousel cavities under time pressure places undue stress on operating personnel.
What is needed is an apparatus for loading medications into an automated pill dispenser specialty carousel which reduces machine downtime, relieves operator pressures, and facilitates accurate and expeditious medication dispensing.
The loader for an automated pill dispenser of this invention has a plastic body with two rows of pill cavities which are positioned to overlie the pill compartment blocks in the speciality pill dispensing carousel of a conventional automated pill dispenser. Two guides affixed beneath the loader body restrain a flat floor member, which has a handle to permit it to be moved between a retracted loading positioned and an extended dispensing position. The floor member has a single slot running its width through which one row of pill cavities empty when the floor member is extracted. The guides define positioning holes which allow the loader to be rapidly brought into position with respect to the automated pill dispenser drawer. The loader may be filled with pills at a location remote from the automated dispenser, and rapidly engaged with and removed from the dispenser to most effectively make use of the dispenser""s processing time.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a loader for an automated pill dispenser which is easy to operate.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a loader for an automated pill dispenser which is rapidly mounted to the pill dispenser without tools.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a loader for an automated pill dispenser which is of low cost and of high reliability.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.